Towards high-resolution laser ionization spectroscopy of the heaviest elements in supersonic gas jet expansion

Rafael Ferrer, A. Barzakh, Beyhan Bastin, R. Beerwerth, Michael Block, P. Creemers, H. Grawe, R. De Groote, P. Delahaye, X. Fléchard, S. Franchoo, S. Fritzsche, Liam Paul Gaffney, Lars Ghys, W. Gins, Camillo Granados, R. Heinke, L. Hijazi, Mark Huyse, T. KronYuri Kudryavtsev, M. Laatiaoui, N. Lecesne, M. Loiselet, F. Lutton, I.D. Moore, Yisel Martinez, E. Mogilevskiy, P. Naubereit, J. Piot, Sebastian Raeder, S. Rothe, Hervé Savajols, Simon Sels, Volker Sonnenschein, J.C. Thomas, E. Traykov, Celine Van Beveren, Paul Van den Bergh, Piet Van Duppen, K. Wendt, Alexandra Zadvornaya

    Research outputpeer-review

    Abstract

    Resonant laser ionization and spectroscopy are widely used techniques at radioactive ion beam facilities to produce pure beams of exotic nuclei and measure the shape, size, spin and electromagnetic multipole moments of these nuclei. However in such measurements it is difficult to combine a high efficiency with a high spectral resolution. Here we demonstrate the on-line application of atomic laser ionization spectroscopy in a supersonic gas jet, a technique suited for high-precision studies of the ground- and isomeric-state properties of nuclei located at the extremes of stability. The technique is characterized in a measurement on actinium isotopes around the N=126 neutron shell closure. A significant improvement in the spectral resolution by more than on order of magnitude is achieved in these experiments without loss in efficiency.
    Original languageEnglish
    Article number14520 (2017)
    Pages (from-to)1-9
    Number of pages9
    JournalNature Communications
    Volume8
    Issue number14520
    DOIs
    StatePublished - 22 Feb 2017

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